1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, which is installed within an instrument panel at a center in a right-left direction of the vehicle, to improve an installation performance of the air conditioning apparatus in the vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
In a semi-center type air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, an air conditioning unit for adjusting a temperature of air blown into a passenger compartment is disposed approximately at a center of an instrument panel in a right-left direction (i.e., width direction) of the vehicle, and a blower unit for blowing air into the air conditioning unit is disposed at an offset position shifted from the air conditioning unit in the right-left direction. Further, in a complete-center type air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, both the air conditioning unit and the blower unit are disposed at a center of the instrument panel in the right-left direction so that the blower unit is positioned at a vehicle front side of the air conditioning unit.
However, in each of the conventional semi-center type air conditioning apparatus and the conventional complete-center type air conditioning apparatus, because a dimension of the air conditioning unit in an up-down direction of the vehicle is large, a bottom surface of the air conditioning unit is placed at a position proximate to a floor surface of the passenger compartment. Therefore, the foot portion of a passenger on a front seat in the passenger compartment contacts the bottom surface of the air conditioning apparatus. To prevent the problem, a dimension of the air conditioning unit in the right-left direction of the vehicle is restricted to be smaller than 300 mm, generally. However, in this case, the dimension of the air conditioning unit in the up-down direction of the vehicle is inevitably increased to propose a sufficient air-conditioning capacity for the passenger compartment.
For example, in a conventional semi-center type air conditioning apparatus shown in FIG. 9, an air conditioning unit having an air conditioning case 202 is disposed at a center of an instrument panel 200 in the right-left direction, and components such as an evaporator 203 and a heater core 204 are disposed in the air conditioning case 202. In the air conditioning unit, the dimension L in a front-rear direction of the vehicle is approximately 400 mm, the dimension H in the up-down direction of the vehicle is approximately 450 mm, and a height distance h between the bottom surface of the air conditioning case 202 and a floor surface 201 of the passenger compartment is approximately 40-50 mm. Because the dimension H of the air conditioning unit in the up-down direction is large, components around the center of the instrument panel are readily affected by the air conditioning unit; and therefore, the installation of the air conditioning unit in the instrument panel of the passenger compartment becomes difficult.